Joe Allen Nature Photography

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Joe Allen Nature Photography

All photos copyright Joe Allen Photography. Please don't steal my stuff.

🥾 Just an aging hillbilly wandering beyond the PA hills
📸 Stories of birds and wildlife from my travels

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost. - JRR Tolkien

12/06/2026

No more rants today, but here are some shots of the amazing Cinnamon Teal. These were photographed at the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Idaho early last month.

Enjoy.

11/06/2026

A short rant this afternoon...

I was scrolling through Facebook this morning and I was disturbed by the fact that 90% of the posts that I saw were AI-generated videos being presented as 'real wildlife' videos. Some were of fantastic birds with crazy plumage and colors. One was as crazy as a black bear and a hippo approaching each other on a dirt road as if they were going to fight.

The thing that got me was that most had thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. I broke my cardinal rule of Facebook and I read some comments. I shouldn't have. Most were along the lines of "Wow, that's amazing" and "I've never seen a bird like that, were is it found?" and "I wonder where this was filmed because I didn't think bears and hippos were in the same place." That's sad.

Don't get me wrong, AI has some amazing uses, but are people really that trusting? Of course, because I clicked on the videos, Facebook then fed me more until I didn't see any real photos or videos. That makes me a bit sad because I know first hand much work real photographers put into their videos and photos that they share. Those ridiculously early mornings on the road, the wet feet from the dewy grass, the frozen hands, the mosquito and tick bites, the spider webs in their hair are all part of what they/we go through to make visually compelling photos to hopefully share something with others that not everyone is lucky enough to see.

When fantastic and real content gets 10's of likes and comments and the obviously fake content gets thousands there's something wrong. Do me a favor and click like on and share the content that you find interesting from real photographers and videographers. When you run into AI stuff being presented as real, click Hide All from that person (don't read the comments, you'll regret that). I doubt it'll do anything but maybe it'll make a dent.

Anyway, here's some totally real 😉video footage I shot in Westmoreland County this morning. Make sure your sound is on.

04/06/2026

Parrots can be a challenge to photograph at eye level. This guy is a White Crowned Parrot and was kind enough to hang out for a little while.

Uvita CR
5/2026

01/06/2026

3 out of the 4 monkey species in Costa Rica. We weren't able to make the trip further south to see the spider monkeys.

Central American Squirrel Monkey
White-Faced Capuchin Monkey
Mantled Howler Monkey

29/05/2026

In all of the trips we've taken to Costa Rica, I've never been around so many toucans as in this trip. At least 3 or 4 pairs of yellow-throated toucans were almost constantly either in view or calling nearby.

26/05/2026

Back from our family vacation in Costa Rica. While this trip didn't include any specific photography destinations, it's Costa Rica and there is wildlife everywhere.

I thought it would be appropriate to share this family portrait of the Crested Caracara family that shared the location with my family. We saw them all daily, but this is the only time I caught sight of all of them at the same time.

Uvita, CR
5/22/26

13/05/2026

This black-necked stilt kept getting closer to the American avocet. Eventually the avocet had enough and encouraged the stilt to find its own place to eat.

Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Idaho
5/3/26

12/05/2026

The most cooperative Scarlet Tanager I've ever run into. Usually I only see them high up, but this guy was chasing a female down low in the canopy and gave me several close up shots.

Westmoreland County, PA
5/26

11/05/2026

Baltimore Oriole
Westmoreland County, PA

07/05/2026

I had a work trip to Idaho this week, but found some time Sunday evening to sneak in a visit to the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is a huge marsh area north of Bear Lake which straddles the Idaho/Utah border.

The marsh is totally loaded with migratory waterfowl right now.

This is an American Bittern, a first for me to photograph. They're almost impossible to see when they don't want to be seen. I think I saw a dozen Sunday evening.

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